More than one year and three months have passed right after Russia started its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24 last year with an aim for the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”. Since then, the whole world with frightened eyes has been witnessing clashes continue in Ukraine with many casualties. The more than 15-month Russia-Ukraine conflict is an important geopolitical issue that has visibly made the world polarized since World War II. 

It is now clear to everybody that the U.S. has created this war-like situation through its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies by increasing its military might in Russia's neighboring countries. The Ukraine crisis is actually poison given by the United States to Ukraine, Europe, and Russia. Following the escalation of the Ukraine situation, the U.S., along with European allies, imposed unprecedented sanctions against Russia, while also trying to undermine Europe's strategic independence.

The protracted Russia-Ukraine crisis has caused a great loss of lives and property on both sides and disrupted the world economy. Due to the energy crisis, industries and factories around the world are about to close, as a result of which the cost of goods increases and the standard of living becomes difficult. Underdeveloped countries are in dire danger as a result of this ongoing conflict in Europe.

Several countries of the world, including China, Indonesia, Brazil, are trying to find a pragmatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict through diplomacy. But as strange as this may sound, the truth is that the United States and its Western allies do not want the Russia-Ukraine conflict to end. Being an important actor in the Southeast Asian region, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto suggested a peace plan for the Ukraine crisis, urging both Ukraine and Russia to immediately start negotiations for peace at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Speaking at Asia's premier defense summit on June 3, Subianto unveiled a peace plan to end the crisis in Ukraine. According to Subianto’s multi-point peace plan for the Ukraine crisis, a demilitarized zone should be established by withdrawing 15 kilometers (nearly 10 miles) from each party's forward position on the battlefield and monitored by a peacekeeping force deployed by the UN. He also added that a UN referendum should be held “to ascertain objectively the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of the various disputed areas”. However, there was no reference to the geographic location the Indonesian minister was pointing at.

It should be recalled here that Indonesian President Joko Widodo, also known as “Jokowi”, last year as the chairman of the G20 group of major economies visited Kiev and Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and offered to play the role of a peace broker between the two warring countries.   

 “My mission is to build peace, because the war must be stopped and (its effects) on the food supply chain must be lifted,” Widodo said, “I will invite President Putin to open a dialogue and, as soon as possible, to carry out a cease-fire and stop the war.”

Notably, President Widodo was the first Asian leader to visit Kiev and Moscow in June last year since the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in February 2022. It should be recalled here that during the bilateral meeting with President Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan on May 21, President Jokowi again emphasized: "Indonesia is ready to become a bridge of peace between Ukraine and Russia." So far, Indonesia has restrained from imposing economic penalties or sanctions on Moscow despite voting in favour of a UN resolution condemning Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

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The trap of diplomacy

Regretfully, Indonesia's peace proposal received pessimistic responses from Ukraine and those backing the government in Kiev by delivering billions of dollars in weapons and other aid to Ukraine. They believe the peace proposal brought forth by Indonesia is not beneficial to any party other than Russia. 

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko dismissed the Indonesia plan to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as Subianto’s peace proposal ignored the situation on the ground. He stated there were no “disputed territories” in which to hold a referendum. Nikolenko urged Indonesia to support Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan which he offered at the G20 meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali on November 16, 2022. He reminded that Russia is guilty of an increasing number of war crimes committed in occupied territories.

According to a report of The Asia Times published on June 8, Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Rezkinov swiftly rejected Subianto’s peace plan for Ukraine  by stating that the idea of freezing troops in position “sounds like a Russian plan, not an Indonesian plan” while adding: “We don’t need this mediator coming to us (with) this strange plan.” On the other hand, commenting on the Indonesian proposal, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said peace in Ukraine had to be achieved on “just” terms. “We need to bring peace to Ukraine, but it must be a just peace, not a peace of surrender,” Borrell said.

On the other hand, China’s former ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2021, Cui Tiankai appreciated Indonesia’s Ukraine peace plan.  “I appreciate very much efforts from our friends in the region, like South Africa and Indonesia,” Cui said at Asia’s premier security summit. He also slammed Europe for ‘mismanaging’ its own security situation and advised to look to the Asia-Pacific for guidance. “I don’t think you are managing effectively and constructively your security situation… A better word for it will be ‘mismanaging’ it. You see the outcome: it’s hurting everybody,” he said.

Many Western analysts compared Indonesia’s plan to China’s 12-point peace plan to bring an end to the Ukraine crisis. On the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on February 24, China as a permanent member of the UN Security Council released a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. “Relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ against other countries, so as to do their share in deescalating the Ukraine crisis and create conditions for developing countries to grow their economies and better the lives of their people,” the paper said. China maintains that the sovereignty of all countries must be respected, and the Cold War mentality abandoned. 

Needless to say, Ukraine and the U.S.-led Western allies have rejected Russia's ally China's 12-point peace proposal. U.S. President Joe Biden who pledged “unwavering support” for Ukraine was not happy with China's peace deal for the conflict and labeled China's peace plan as “not rational”. In April this year, Ukraine also rejected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s proposal to end the ongoing conflict. Lula proposed creating a group of neutral countries to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. 

Many world leaders including South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa saw merit in China's position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and hopes that relevant parties could resume negotiations at an early date. Even President Putin commented that China's proposed peace plan could be the basis for talks on ending the crisis in Ukraine. The Ukraine-Russian crisis should be resolved politically through negotiation and consultation.

The fact is that neither America nor Ukraine wants this long-term conflict to stop. Even though Ukraine does not have enough power to fight Russia, it continues to wage war with the encouragement and support of the U.S. and the West. As such, Russia is not at war with Ukraine, it is the United States and its NATO allies. The way the Western media outlets are trying to portray Volodymyr Zelenskyy a great patriot and brave president of Ukraine is a mere propaganda. In reality, he is a close ally of the U.S. and has been doing everything at its behest. 

The Ukraine crisis is a trap set by the U.S. in the 21st century. The U.S. arms companies are making record profits by exploiting the ongoing conflict. It is obvious that Zelenskyy is handing over the country’s economy to U.S. multinationals such as Black Rock, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Starlink. Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh claimed that Zelensky embezzled $400 million last year that Washington had allotted Ukraine for the purchase of fuel. In an interview with George Galloway on Mother of All Talk Shows (a British talk radio show) on June 11, 2023, Hersh underscored that the majority of the world's population supported Russia in the war in Ukraine while the credibility of the U.S. is being put into question.

Being a populist and euphoric leader Zelenskyy has rejected any peace proposal, be it from China or Indonesia or any other country to stay in power even at the cost of the blood of his own countrymen. The peace-loving people are against blinding the world with an eye for an eye. The populist comedian leader dressed in war clothes pretending to show patriotism on TV screens cannot fool the people of the world with empty propaganda.